Infinite Encyclopedia

Sofia Cordova

2016.

Encyclopedia Infinita grew out of my affection for documentary photography. Conceptually borrowing from the likes of August Sander and Douglas Huebler, this project aims for the categorically impossible: to be an encyclopedic catalogue of 'everything.' Its finite scope will be limited by the number of images that I can generate in my lifetime.

The act of categorization is inherently subjective; rigor, after all, is not the same thing as objectivity. By employing the encyclopedic model, the project harnesses that condition and turns it into a cataloguing strategy. Together, these ‘entries’ possess their own logic. In creating an original and complex system of visual data, my encyclopedia works as would any: full of accidental biases and meaningful connections. E.I. seeks to categorize where the edges of my person and the edges of the world meet knowing that imperfection and failure are inherent in the search for an infinite knowledge.